Durbin to W.H.: Step up during recess

Democrats are worried that the August recess will all but kill momentum on health care reform. But Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said President Barack Obama bears a major responsibility during the summer recess to rally support and prevent that from happening.

“I say this as a member of Congress who’s been an observer: The president is in the driver’s seat in August,” Durbin, a close ally of Obama’s, told reporters Wednesday. “Congress is gone and scattered to the winds with personal family and constituent service. And the White House is still there, generating a message and activity. So I think the president will have a chance to tell the American people a little bit more about why this process is so important.”

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Durbin said it’s critical that the Senate Finance Committee approve its bill before Aug. 7 in order to have a big piece of their plan to sell to voters.

“I think it’s very important, and I hope we get it done,” Durbin said. “I still have my fingers crossed and feel good about it. And there are some members of the House who were waiting on that to see that the Senate Finance Committee can actually produce a bill.”

As the Democrats’ chief vote counter, Durbin stressed that Democratic critics of the forthcoming Finance package – which likely will not include a government-run insurance option – should not vote to block the bill from advancing, saying it’s the “first inning” of a “long ball game.”

“This is going to be a delicate process because I can say without fear of contradiction that what is produced with the bipartisan group in the Finance Committee is not the bill that I would write,” Durbin said. “I would urge all my colleagues to stick with this process and realize that the first vote is not the last vote – that we want to come together procedurally to keep this process moving. The Republican majority wants to filibuster us into failure, and we can’t let that happen.”